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Wetlands Protection Drive for Next 4 Years Kicks Off
A long-term wetland protection programme using international funds to guard biological diversity and regulate use of China's wetlands has been kicked off this week.
Under the programme, a record US$34.57 million will be poured into the protection of wetlands in China's five provinces during the 2000-04 period.
Over 33 per cent will come from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and about US$2.6 million is pledged by the Australian Government, according to the State Forestry Administration (SFA).
The remaining funds, about 58 per cent of the total, are to be raised by both the Chinese central government and local areas that will benefit from the programme.
A conference financed by the Global Environmental Foundation (GEF) and UNDP was held in Beijing to discuss details of implementing the programme, the largest ever launched by UNDP for wetland protection, sources with SFA said.
The programme zone will cover wetlands in Northeast China's Sanjiang Plain, along the coastal shoal in Yancheng in East China's Jiangsu Province, in Dongting Lake of Central China's Hunan Province and Nuoergai swamp in Southwest China's Sichuan Province and northwestern Gansu Province.
Wetlands, the natural ecological system often referred to as the Earth's "kidneys," play an important role in water conservation and the prevention of soil erosion and flooding.
It is of vital importance for China to carry out a long-term wetland protection programme, senior officials with the SFA said, adding that they hoped it can focus on tackling major issues threatening the biological diversity of the wetlands.
In past years, increasing population and economic development have resulted in a continuous deterioration of the wetlands.
Some experts have even partly blamed the heavy flooding along China's Yangtze, Nenjiang and Songhuajiang rivers in the summer of 1998 on the continuing degeneration of wetlands.
While introducing advanced management methods to China, SFA officials said they also hope that protective and technological management capabilities of wetland protection can be improved.
One of the most important impacts of the programme, officials said, is to raise awareness of protection among people living around existing major wetlands.
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